


Will's goodbye

by Mesares



Category: Days of Our Lives
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-05
Updated: 2015-07-04
Packaged: 2018-03-21 09:35:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 16,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3687306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mesares/pseuds/Mesares
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sonny reads a letter Will left for him at the apartment.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Will's letter

**Author's Note:**

> This happened to pop into my head today, so it got written in 10 minutes. Might do a second chapter or more, if they speak to me, so to say.

My dearest Sonny, 

Let me start off by once again apologizing, I don’t think I’ll ever finish apologizing for what I did. It pains me that I hurt you, hurt me, hurt our family as much as I did, I honestly never thought I’d turn into my mother, but I guess I was mistaken.

If you’ve looked around you’ll have noticed that I’ve… we’ve left. I love you, we both love you so much, there are literally no words for how deep my love for you is. That same love is the reason I’ve left. 

I don’t see you forgiving me, there’s simply no way, not with him around town and around you. I know, I know you keep saying there’s nothing there, that I’m imagining things, but if you’re really honest with yourself, you know that’s not true. I’ve seen the looks, the way you blush when he speaks to you, I know you’re still in love with him and that’s why I’m setting you free, you deserve to be with your true love, now that he’s finally out. 

I feel like your second choice and your actions lately just confirm that to me. What’s the point in trying to save something that’s special to me, when the love of my life, is in love with someone else? There’s literally no way for me to get you to fall in love with me, when your heart belongs to someone else. 

I asked you last year; if you were sure you wanted to marry me, you reassured me so much and I believed you, guess the jokes on me, right? 

I was a skeptic when it came to marriage, you made me believe, you grounded me, you made me feel loved, secure, home… you made me feel at home for the first time in my life.  
Then we lost our way, I got the dream job, you didn’t approve, or you did then you didn’t… you know how it went, that really hurt, you looking down at me, you not supporting me, you made me feel so small so useless that I just wanted to do better so that you’d be proud of me, that you’d look at me like you used to when we first started dating, I missed that look, I still do. 

I guess LA sort of was where it all started to unravel. Why didn’t you tell me you didn’t want me to go? I never returned any calls for the sole reason of wanting to do as good a job as possible so that you’d be proud of your husband again. I messed that up royally too, once a screw up, always a screw up, I guess. 

Then I come back, ashamed and don’t tell you I got fired, that’s on me, I just didn’t want to see that disappointment in your eyes, I’m sorry though, for what it’s worth.

When they told me they had this massive story for me to write, I figured I can’t possible screw this up, I have no relationship with this person and it’s a good opportunity. I did what they told me, not the sleeping with him part, that’s on me, I do know that. But I went in there with the intention of making you proud of me, I never got any feedback from you, other than you calling me a whore, which I guess I am, I did cheat. 

I’m sorry I wasn’t there when you got attacked and I’m sorry that you found out the way that you did, see that word sorry, I can say it so many times, there’s just no point as there’s no forgiveness. 

What pains me is, you could’ve just let me go to jail last year, then this entire mess wouldn’t have happened and you’d have been free to get with Paul since I’d have been locked up for life, probably. 

Remember when I gave up Ari, just so that I could have you? That’s how much I loved you, how much I love you. I’d give up my own child and my own freedom just for you, that’s how important you were, are and always will be to me. 

I’m not entirely sure where we’re going to go, call my dad or grandma if you want to see Ari, she’s your daughter too, I’ll never keep you away from here. I will however ask you to respect me enough to NEVER have her interact with Paul, you loving him more than me is unbearable as it is, I wouldn’t survive it if she started asking for him too.

You can have your dad draw up annulment or divorce papers, down to you which one you want. 

Thank you for making me happy, for a brief while in my otherwise sad life. I’m sorry I couldn’t be the man you wanted me to be, though seeing as though I was your second choice, you can have the real deal now. 

Once again, Sonny, I’m so sorry for everything, I always have and I always will love you, I hope for the briefest of times you loved me too, though if you didn’t I guess I deserved it. I hope you forgive me if carry on loving you, I don’t know how to stop and I’m not entirely sure I want to stop. 

Please be happy, that’s all I want for you. 

I love you, always. 

Your Will.


	2. Sonny's thoughts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sonny reads Will's letter. He is willing to fight to get his husband and daughter back home, where they belong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do forgive me for any spelling mistakes or sentences that seem odd, i'm rather literally typing and posting. Hopefully I catch all the massive errors prior to posting the chapters.

**Sonny**

I sit down heavily on our sofa, what does he mean he’s setting me free, he can’t do that. Doesn’t he want… I stop as I look over his words again, have I really done what he says? Do I blush, whenever Paul says something? 

I can’t be that guy, I can’t have him thinking I never loved him, I did, I still do. He’s everything to me, but he hurt me really badly and I don’t know how to get over that, how do I forgive him for cheating on me, with my ex? 

Do I have feelings for Paul? Yes, I guess I do, that little what if voice in the back of my mind, what if I’d stayed with him, what if we’d gotten married, what if, what if, what if? 

But I didn’t and we didn’t. He made his choice, I left, I came home, I found Will, I fell, I fell hard. I’ve never had such a strong love for anyone, he might not believe that he was never my second choice, I suppose my actions haven’t exactly shown him that either. But he was my first choice plain and simple, he still is, I just have to find a way to move past his infidelity. 

I don’t look down at him or his work though, I’m proud of him, I’ve always been proud of him, granted I don’t agree with some of the choices he made in his articles, but I’ve never… I… I, oh god… he’s right, I do, I do that thing where I support him throughout and as soon as it goes wrong, I join in the choir of nay-sayers. I’m not his keeper, I’m his husband, I should show him my support always and if I have some criticism, it should be constructive so he doesn’t feel attacked by me alongside everyone else. 

That entire Abby debacle, did I even once stand by him when literally everyone was on his case for what he did to her? I don’t even have to try and think about it, I failed him as a husband then and every other time where I didn’t show him my full support. I should know better, he’s a strong man, but at the same time he’s incredibly emotional and he needs to know that no matter what, I’m there for him. Nice one there, Sonny, I smack myself upside the head. 

The irony of the matter is, had I not asked uncle Victor to get Will a job, we’d most likely not be in this situation. Though what’s done is done, it happened and now we have to get past this, I have to get past this, he’s done everything short of getting down on his knees to beg for my forgiveness. Maybe we should try couples counseling, maybe that’s the way to go? 

I know I have a lot of things I’d have to work on and I’m certain he has too, maybe that’s what we need to do? I’ll have to talk to Marlena about that, though maybe I should talk to him first, yeah genius talk to Will first. I could smack myself again.

I glance down at the letter again, my breath hitching at the part where he writes about giving up his freedom and Arianna for me, just to be with me, I really feel so unworthy of him now, he was willing to give up his life, so that I wouldn’t go to prison, he was protecting me, that’s how much he loves me and I’m over here swooning like a schoolgirl, over an ex who hurt me so much more with his actions. 

Why exactly have I been so caring towards Paul, when he slept with my husband? I should throttle him and Will for sleeping together. Instead I’ve pushed my husband so far that he’s given up on us, because he thinks I’m in love with my ex, that he was my second choice. 

Well Will Horton, here’s a newsflash for you, you’re not. You’re the choice, pure and simple, your place is here in our home, with me.  
We have our share of problems, sure, but we have to work on them together, which we will, I’ll make sure of that. 

If Nick couldn’t break us, then this blip we’re in now, sure as hell won’t. I’m fighting for our marriage, and you just gave me the idea of how to communicate without arguing. 

\--

_The next morning_

**Marlena**

“What can I do for you today, Sonny?” she asks with a kind smile, as I bite my lip.

“Ehm… I know you know Will gave up and left me,” I look directly into her eyes, “I’m not giving up on him” shaking my head I reach into the pocket of my jacket, “Could you please give him this?” 

“What is it?” She wonders as she takes the envelope from me. 

“He left me this letter, sort of explaining things, it gave me this idea of responding and us communicating through letters.” I pause to gauge her reaction, she simply smiles and nods encouraging me to go on, “We… we always seem to just fight lately, when trying to talk to each other, so I figure with letters we can say everything, then wait for the reply, have time to digest it properly, you know?” 

“That does sound like a good idea,” she tells me, making me smile, “Though what’s this hard object?” 

“His key,” I state simply, “It’s his home, so his key stays with him. I wrote it in the letter too.” She comes over to me, placing her hand on my shoulder. 

“I’ll give him this as soon as I see him,” she tells me as I bite my lip, “Was there something else?” 

I nod, “Yeah, we’ll need a good counselor for later, letters first, then normal communication and then full-blown outside assistance. We have a lot of issues to cover, but I believe we will come out whole and healed once we’re done processing everything.”

She smiles warmly giving my shoulder a squeeze, “I will look into the best people there are, I will also tell Will about this.”

“Yes, please do.” I pause, swallowing before continuing, “Please tell him, I love him… I miss him… and… I forgive him… I hope he can forgive me too.” I shrug as I look at her then away, wiping away the tear that spilled over. 

She hugs me, holding me close, reminding me of why both Will and I love her so much.


	3. A grandmotherly conversation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will is with Ari, then he has a conversation with Marlena, who has an envelope for him from Sonny. How does Will react to that though?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the positive responses you guys. I've no idea how long this will end up being, though i'm hoping I don't stretch it out too much. Fourth chapter will probably be up later today.

**Will**

Writing that letter, walking out of my home was probably the hardest thing, I’ve ever done in my life. Admitting to myself that I lost the best thing that ever happened to me is gut-wrenching. I don’t think I’ll ever recover from that. I have to eventually try to move on, but I’ll never stop loving him. I simply can’t. I don’t know how to. I don’t want to know how to. 

“Daddy sad…” Ari says as she looks up at me from her play-mat, “Daddy smile,” she comes over to me, holding up her arms, I pick her up and she hugs me, making me smile. I’ll focus my attention on her from now on, making sure her life is perfect, I’ve screwed up my own, I won’t screw up hers too. 

“I’m a little sad, I’ll start smiling again soon, I promise.” I kiss her head as she pulls back to look at me. 

“Papa sad too?” she wonders and I swear I have a perceptive little girl in my life. 

“Yes, daddy did something to hurt papa, now we’re both really sad, but we are very happy to have you to make us smile, my little angel.”

“Go home?” she looks at me, before resting her head on my shoulder. I sniff at that, shaking my head. 

“Maybe later, we’re visiting your grandma Marlena for a few days.” I look at the door as grandma walks in, “Look there she is now. Hi grandma.” I smile weakly as Ari sits up, then wiggles out of my arms to go back to her toys. 

“Hi my sweet boy,” she comes over and sits down next to me, “How are you holding up today?”

I look at her briefly, then focus my attention on Ari, “Oh just dandy, I was just sitting here contemplating how I managed to screw up my marriage. How I lost the one person in my life, besides Ari, who I thought loved me unconditionally. The one person I ever truly loved. How I was just the one he settled for since his true love turned him down… You know, the usual.” I sigh, then offer a small smile as I look at her again, “How was your day?” 

She observes me for a while, does that thing where she just looks at you, kinda creepy, though I won’t tell her that. “It was good, I had a visitor first thing this morning.” She looks at Ari who claps her hands right then, “That’s right, we should clap.” She smiles fondly as do I, before focusing her attention back on me. 

“Was it a patient?” I wonder making her shake her head. 

“Your husband, actually,” I close my eyes, sinking back into the cushions. 

“Why? Did… Did I forget something at the apartment; did he come to drop it off?” I ask feeling utterly drained and defeated all of a sudden. I don’t even have any more tears left. I feel like that’s all I’ve done lately, cry, feel defeated, cry some more. 

“Something like that,” grandma looks through her purse, then pulls out the envelope. 

“He already drew up divorce papers?” I stand up, “Did I really mean that little to him, I just left yesterday.” There you go, those god damn tears make an entrance again. 

“Daddy?” I look at my daughter, she looks on the verge of tears herself. 

“I’m sorry sweetheart, I’m sorry… I’m just sad, please don’t cry.” I pick her up, holding her close as I make shushing sounds while kissing her hair. 

“Will it’s…”

“Just leave it on the table, I’ll sign them later, he can have them first thing tomorrow, so he can go off and enjoy his life with his true love.” I walk towards the kitchen, “It’s time for your snack Ari, how about some apples?” She murmurs her appreciation making me nod. 

“It’s not that,” grandma says as she comes over to me, taking Ari from my arms. “How about us girls go in there, make you a snack, then you can help me make dinner?” she wonders, making Ari giggle and hide her face in her neck. 

“Grandma… please… I can’t…” I look from them to the envelope on the table. 

“I need you to listen and hear me, my sweet sweet boy,” she looks at me making me nod, “He came to tell me he’s not giving up on your marriage, despite what you might think.” I go to protest but she silences me with that look of hers, which only has me sigh in acceptance. “He wrote you a letter, much like the one you left him. He thinks that’s the way you two should communicate right now, as you seem to only argue and not hear each other when you’re in the same room.” She lets Ari down holding her hand, “He thinks, you’ll both be more honest if you pour out everything onto paper.”

“I… I don’t…” I look at her, “He’s so angry with me, I can’t read that… what if…”

“You have to, to move on from this, you have to read what he wrote, just like he read your letter and will continue to read your future letters.”

“But…”

“No, this is a great idea, this is him making an effort.”

“He couldn’t do that before… he always…” I shake my head, trying to stop the tears, “He wouldn’t even look at me half the time… what changed?”

“Your words made him realize what he was going to lose.” She says simply, “He told me he has faith in the two of you coming out of this stronger than you ever were, well in my words of course.” She smiles, “He said you’ll start with letters, move on to face to face and finally go to a counselor, he’s not giving up on you and I know you’ll never truly give up on him.”

That’s it, tears are on the loose, “I can’t, I don’t know how not to love him, he’s everything to me.” I sob as she pulls me into a hug, “I love him so much grandma.” 

“I know, he loves you just as much, believe me, he is hurt but he is not giving up on you.”

I sniff as I pull away from her, glancing at the table. “I’ll…” I walk over, sitting down as she nods taking Ari out to the kitchen.

I stare at the envelope for what feels like forever, then with a shaky hand reach for it, frowning at the hard object I feel when I pick it up. I rip it open and my key falls out into the palm of my hand, which for some reason makes me smile. 

Pulling out the letter, I draw in a deep breath before unfolding the pages.


	4. Sonny's letter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sonny's letter to Will.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't really know with this one, hope it's okay.

My darling Will, 

I’m so sorry for ever making you feel like you do, for making you give up. I don’t want that. I’m so incredibly angry at the entire situation, for some reason I’m taking it all out on you, for that I’m truly sorry. 

I love you with every single fiber of my being perhaps that is why your betrayal hurts me so much. 

I need you to understand that my anger does not mean I don’t love you anymore, quite the opposite, I’m so angry that I don’t know how to deal with it, talking to you face to face seems to just frustrate me even more, though I know it hurts you when I shut you out.   
I think maybe we should just communicate through letters for the time being, it’ll give us the chance to say what we really want to say, without fear of it being too much or too hurtful. Everything goes in these letters, I want us to communicate again, first through letters, then in person and finally with a counselor. I think it’d do us a lot of good to do it like this, I hope you agree. 

Needless to say your request for an annulment or a divorce is denied, I’m not giving up on us, we have a long way to go, but I’m certain we’ll get there with hard work and proper communication. 

What I’ll say next might hurt you, so for that I’ll apologize in advance. 

What you wrote about my reactions to Paul, is true. I thought about it after reading your letter and you do have a point. I think a part of me is wondering, what if? You know, what if he’d said yes back then, would we have been happy, would we still be together now, would I have been able to stay hidden away as his secret? I don’t know and that’s mainly what’s at the back of my mind every time I see him now.   
I know it’s not fair on you; none of this has been fair on you. I’m sure me blaming you and being friendly with him these past months hasn’t been easy on you, for that I do apologize; I never meant to hurt you intentionally, though it’s rather evident that I did. 

I’m going to make it clear to him that I can’t see him anymore; I promise you that I won’t go near him again. He’s part of the problem, I realize that now. It took for me to lose you, to realize that, that says it all about the state of our marriage right now, doesn’t it?

You’ve been willing to make some huge sacrifices for me in the past; I don’t think I ever told you how grateful I am for that. It’s so humbling for me to know that you love me so much you’d give up everything you care about, just to keep me or to keep me out of harms way. I love you so much for your selflessness when it comes to me, I’ve not shown it in a long time but I do, I love you so very much Will. 

You are not a whore and you are nothing like your mother, I’m so very sorry for ever saying anything that would make you think that. I was angry. I lashed out. That’s the simple fact of the matter. 

I know I’ve not been supportive when it came to your writing, I realize I failed you as a husband then; I should be encouraging you, not making you feel like I’m ashamed of you. The more I think about it, the more I’m starting to realize I might be the reason for most of our problems. I just want you to be happy, since I know how your childhood was. Instead of being an adult about it, I tend to agree to everything you want to do, since I see that it makes you so happy. Then when things don’t work out, I tend to judge you. I can see, now, how that comes across. That’s on me, that’s my failure, I will work on that, I promise you. 

Our problems started when you got that first job, in some weird way, had I not asked Uncle Victor to give you a job, we might not even be communicating through letters now. Though what’s done is done. We learn from it, at least I hope we learn from it. 

What happened in LA, again what’s done is done. 

I wish we’d communicated better, so you’d known then that I was proud of you, I still am, you have a way with words that I envy. You’re beyond talented and you will be really famous one day that, I’m sure of. I’ll proudly stand by your side then and always from now on.

The irony is, the second club, was my way of making you proud of me. I thought you wanted out when you left for LA, when you called our life boring. I thought with the second location, you’d see Salem as an exciting place; you’d see me as an exciting man again. I did that for you and it went so horribly wrong. I guess we wanted to make each other proud and it ended up backfiring on both of us. That lack of communication again, that’s one of our main issues right there.

I’ll promise you from now on, I’ll do my very best to communicate properly with you, even if it hurts or causes us to fight. I’d rather that, than a repeat of the events that led us to where we are right now. 

_**Will you promise me the same?** _

I have a request for you, with regards to Ari. When I see her, I want it to be a family sort of thing, so that includes you too, it can be breakfast, lunch, dinner, trips to playgrounds… all of the options, whichever, all that matters is that we’re together. This issue is ours, not hers, so let us show her we are still a family, even if we’re going through a rough patch right now.   
Before you get upset, this isn’t a dig at you as a parent, I know you love her more than anything. I’m just pointing out that we are a family to her, we’re all she has and we should make sure she doesn’t miss either one of us at any given time, okay? 

You might have noticed your key was in the envelope, it’s your key, this is your home. You might not be ready to move back in as of yet, but I really want you to still view this as your home. This is Ari’s home, so please come over whenever, even if it’s just to work on your articles. That way Ari will spend most of her time in familiar surroundings and we can start our relationship from scratch again. While I do think all the heavy issues should get covered in letters, I think we can handle light stuff, day to day talks when at home and when around Ari. 

I love you, I love Ari. It’s us three against the world, that’s how it’s supposed to be, that’s how it will be. We might have a long way to go, and this might be long overdue, but I forgive you Will. I forgive you, I just hope you can find it in your heart to also forgive me. Can you?

Finally I have to say this, you are not now, nor were you ever my second choice. I never settled for you, just because Paul couldn’t make me his main priority. You had my heart from day one on the pier, you had it then Will, you still have it now.   
You are my choice, you are my life, you are my husband. Mine, you are mine Will Horton. I want you to read this time and time again, until you believe it deep down, then, I want you to read it again. My heart beats for you, my heart might have broken, but I have the utmost faith in us putting it back together again. I’m in this for the long haul, husbands for life, remember? 

I love you, I love you, I love you. 

All of my heart is yours, always. 

Your Sonny.


	5. Visitors for Sonny

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's been a week since Will got Sonny's letter.

**Sonny**

It’s been a week and there’s no reply from Will, I wonder if he even read the letter, truly read it.

I saw Marlena the other day, she said she saw him smile when he held the key and she’d seen him reading the letter, but he’d not said anything to her about it. Though that could’ve been her psychologist side coming out, not sharing what Will might have said in confidence, which I respect. Just doesn’t really help my anxiety, I just want him to respond, I want to see him, I want to see Ari. 

I’ve not seen her since the day before he left, I know she’s alright, I just… I’m respecting him it’s on his terms right now, even though I know that if I were to go over there right now, he’d not stop me from seeing her. 

My phone vibrates and I sigh when I see it’s a message from Paul. I’ve still not had the talk with him, I will, today actually. He’s been out of town for some promotional work thing, I don’t know, I didn’t really pay much attention, guess I was too busy swooning over him. Though not anymore. He’s coming over to the club in a few hours, as soon as he gets into town and drops off his stuff at the hotel. 

I sigh as I wipe down the counter, I know what I want to say to him, so it’s just about actually saying it when he is in front of me. 

I sigh again as I look around the club, it’s kind of empty in here today, so empty that, I’ve already done all the paperwork for this week, salaries are all signed, everything is stocked and orders for next week have also been placed. 

“Hey Sonny,” I smile at T. as he comes in for his shift, “Wow, empty place today.” He shakes his head as he puts on his apron, “It’ll pick up soon, I’m sure.” He carries on talking, turning the subject to his date last night, he really can drone on and on sometimes. I have to smile to myself, he’ll never change, that’s his strength, that’s what makes him a great guy, a great friend, to both of us. 

“Papa…” I frown and turn around as I feel someone tugging on my pant leg, my face lighting up as I see Ari. 

“Hi sweetheart,” I pick her up hugging her close to me, “I’ve missed you so much.” I tell her as she shifts around slightly. 

“I’m at gra’mas.” She says as she looks around me towards T, giggling at the silly faces he undoubtedly is making. Me, I just hug her again, I’ve really missed her. 

“She was missing you…” I look over at Will who’s standing some feet away, the bar separating us. I have to say that rush I always have when around him, it’s still there, he still has that ability to just take my breath away. 

“I missed her too,” I pause for a brief moment to look at her, “I’ve missed both of you.” I look directly into his eyes as I say that, wanting to make sure he understands me. He nods then looks away a moment later. “Thank you for bringing her,” I say quietly. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t before… I just…” he shrugs, “It’s been up and down lately, so…” he shrugs, then shakes his head as I’m about to speak, “I’m okay now, just had to read that letter a few times, a lot of times…” he looks at me. “I have this for you,” he reaches into Ari’s diaper-bag, pulling out an envelope, making me smile. 

“Is… is this…” I look at him as he nods. 

“It’s… yeah… it’s a good idea.” He shrugs, while biting his lip. 

“Okay… okay good… it’s a start, it’s good.” I nod as I press a kiss to Ari’s head. 

“Daddy ‘m hungry,” she says as she looks at Will. 

“Oh I…” 

“Actually,” he starts, “I was hoping we could have a meal together, like you wrote.” He looks at me, “Unless it’s a bad time… it is isn’t it? I’m sorry we should go, I’ll call we can set something up. C’mon Ari, we should…”

“Jesus Will,” T. chuckles from behind me, interrupting him. “Take a deep breath, then shut up for a second so your husband can respond.” He shakes his head, clearly exasperated with his friend.

Will blushes, looking down at that, could he get any cuter? “’m sorry,” he mumbles. 

“Thank you T.” I smirk, “It’s a good time, it’s always a good time for my family to come visit me at work,” I say with meaning as I look at Will. He bites his lip, then nods. “T. would you…” I start and he’s practically shoving me out from behind the bar, “Thanks man.” 

I sit down at the corner booth, Ari in my lap, as we place our orders. It’s quiet though, we just need to start talking, small-talk about Ari perhaps, I figure that’s a start. 

“So… how… how’s Ari sleeping?” Okay, wow, that was lame, like super lame, how she’s sleeping, really?

“Ehm…” he furrows his brows, “Okay I guess… she sort of doesn’t nap anymore, so that’s changed I guess.” He shrugs. 

“You don’t nap anymore?” I look at my daughter, “you’re growing up way too fast little Miss Horton” She giggles as I tickle her stomach, then snuggles back into me just as our food arrives. 

“Yeah, she’s growing up way too fast,” Will sighs just as my phone vibrates. I look apologetically at him, as he nods that it’s okay for me to check who it is. 

“Oh…” I bite my lip then look at Will. 

“Everything okay?” he wonders as he takes a bite of his sandwich, I sigh, while Ari grabs another fry, stuffing it in her mouth. 

“Ehm… it’s Paul.” I say quietly as I watch him stiffen… “He’s been out of town, so I’ve not had a chance to talk to him. I figure I should talk to him face to face, when I tell him… you know?” I gauge his reaction. He’s really quiet, just looking at me then Ari, then me again. 

“He…” He stops, swallows then tries again, “Ehm…” he looks lost again, just utterly lost. 

“I meant what I said in my letter Will,” I reach across and grip his hand, “I asked him to come here as soon as he got back into town, that’s why he’s texting me.” I give his hand a squeeze, “I promise, I’m telling him, okay?”

He looks at our hands, then into my eyes and down at Ari a few times, then slowly he seems to relax, he calms himself down. 

“I’m sorry, I should’ve told you first thing when you came in… I was just surprised, happy to see you guys…” I start, but he stops me with a squeeze to my hand and a small smile. 

“It’s okay, I… I was just surprised I guess, it’s fine, not like we announced we were coming over anyways… when is he?” he wonders, “It’s just, I don’t want to…” 

“Hey… First of all, you never have to announce that you’re coming here, ever.” I look at him, “Secondly, you and Ari are more important than he is. I don’t care okay. We’re having a good time now, let’s not let him stop it, okay?” he nods slowly, “We can maybe go for a walk, or to the zoo?” I suggest, “It’s been too long, hasn’t it?”

“You should… you know talk to him…” he mumbles quietly. 

“I will, just I don’t want this to end right now, it feels nice to… to be here together… besides it’s not like he’s going anywhere now he knows his father is alive and in Salem.” We both sigh at that. 

“I suppose, at least I doubt he’ll be welcome at grandma’s while we’re there.” He shrugs. 

“Yeah,” I shake my head, “So, zoo?” I wonder as I use wet-wipes to clean up my fed and very happy daughter? 

“Monkeys” she claps excitedly, as Will groans, thumping his head down on the table. 

“It’ll be fun, c’mon daddy.” I chuckle as I get up, though it seems as though someone is in need of a diaper change first, “Let’s go clean you up first though, sweetheart.” I kiss her head as I walk her to my office, where we quickly get her into a nice and clean diaper. 

“You’re such a dad,” Will smiles as he looks on, “She loves you so much, you know that, right?”

“I love you both more than that,” I respond, “I am a dad, I’m the luckiest dad in the world cause I have Ari.” I tickle her making her squeal in delight. “C’mon now, family, let us go to the Zoo.” I walk out of the office, with Will right behind me. 

“Hey T. we’re off, if Paul shows up… tell him I’m with my family, where I belong.” With that we leave the club, together.


	6. A conversation and some action

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They spent the day together, now they return to Marlena's place and hang out. Then something happens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't even know with this chapter. It took too long to finish up for some reason. I've not edited this, so apologies if you spot errors.   
> Hope it's enjoyable.

**Sonny**

“I did not make evil eyes at you,” he says indignantly. 

“Yes you did, you thought she was cheating on Chad with me.” I laugh as he tenses and I could smack myself, “I’m sorry… I…”

“It’s true though…” he sighs then shakes his head, “It was what I thought,” he smiles weakly, “It’s okay to say cheating around me, I mean, we’re talking through the letters so…” he trails off as we reach the door. 

“I… I just don’t want to…” I look at Will, “It was a good day,” I decide to change the topic, “It’s nice to…” I bite my lip, “this being together as a family, it’s… I’ve missed it, there’s… we wasted too much time.” 

“Yeah, it’s a good start, right? Us spending most of the day together with no arguments?” I laugh as he smiles, “She’s all tuckered out,” he runs his hand over Ari’s hair, “I can’t believe you carried her around all day, aren’t you tired?”

I smiles as I kiss Ari’s head, “I’m not, I’ve missed her too much to notice if I’m tired really.” I look at him, “Though this is your stop, so we should probably,” I start to transfer Ari to Will when she wakes up, whimpers and clings to me. 

“Papa,” she cries as her hands grip my shirt tightly. 

“Shhhh, it’s okay sweetheart, I’m just letting daddy hold you now, so he can put you in your bed, it’s really late, go back to sleep.” I kiss her head again, trying to transfer her once more, though she cries even louder this time. 

“Papa, no… want papa,” I hug her close, rocking her to calm her, as I look apologetically at Will. 

He sighs, shakes his head then smiles, “Hey, Ari,” he starts gently, “Do you want your papa to read you your story and help you get ready for bed-time?” he wonders as she hiccups. 

“Yeah…” she says quietly as her head rests on my shoulder, her hands still gripping my shirt tightly. 

“Okay, then let’s go inside, then you can show him your room at grandmas, papa hasn’t seen it yet.” 

“Okay,” she mumbles as Will unlocks the door and enters the room. I follow with Ari. 

“Will is that you?” Marlena pops out from the other end of the room, stopping when she sees us, “Oh,” she smiles, “Sonny, lovely to see you” she observes us for a moment, “Did you…” she starts as Ari whines in my arms. 

“Yes we spent the day together grandma,” Will tells her, “Ari won’t let go of Sonny, so he’s going to see her room and help her get ready for her bed-time” I look at him then at Marlena, smiling softly. 

“Well my sweet girl, aren’t you just the lucky one,” she tells Ari, as she comes over and kisses her gently, “Your daddy and your papa helping you tonight, just like they always will and always should.” She looks up at me, then at Will, “This is a good start, for all of you.” She says, “John is coming home from his trip in a little while, I’m just making some sandwiches for him, would you two like some?” She wonders and I look at Will, this is up to him. 

He looks at me, then smiles and answers, “Yes please,” I smile softly then wrinkle up my nose. 

“Ehm.,, Will… where’s Ari’s room, I think she’s in need of a new diaper.” 

“Oh, this way,” I follow him and it isn’t long till we have our daughter in her crib, clean diaper and all. She was out cold the second her head hit the pillow. 

“Sleep tight, baby girl” I kiss her cheek, smiling at Will as he does the same. 

“D’you wanna…”

“I should…” 

We start at the same time as we leave Ari’s room, then stop, look at each other. 

“You go first,” I smile. 

“Ehm… I was just wondering if you wanted to stay for a little bit, just you know, talk…” he shrugs, as though it’s not a big deal. 

“I was going to say I should go,” I see his face fall at that, “but I don’t have any plans, so I can stay, we can talk… I can read your letter maybe?” 

“Okay…” he nods, “Can we do that?” He shakes his head, “I mean, can we sit next to each other while reading the letters?” 

“Oh…” I sit next to him on the sofa, “I suppose, sure, unless… unless there’s something in there that we think the other would need some time to process on their own…” I shrug as he nods, “Is there?” 

“I… no…” shaking his head he leans back, “Though… I think we should stick to the reading them on our own thing, let us do this the right way, okay?” I nod my agreement, “Okay good. How’s the club doing?” 

“Ehm…” I wince, then shrug, “Alright, I guess… doesn’t really sit well with me to owe Chad money so…” I sigh, “I think he might end up taking it from me, fully, you know.” I share my fear with someone for the first time, “I just… I don’t trust him like I used to when we first started Common Grounds.” 

“Hey,” he places his hand on mine, “I know you’re proud of the place, it is your first venture and you worked really hard for it… but, if you were to lose it, it’s not a failure, okay? It’s a life lesson, just like with me, we mess up, we learn and grow from it. Your next venture, go solo, or have a partner you have unconditional faith in.” he squeezes my hand. 

“Like you?” I wonder, “I mean, you as my partner, I trust you, unconditionally, sure you made a mistake, so did I, so I guess… next venture, will you?” 

“Are you asking me to go into business with you?” 

“I guess I am, what do you think?” 

“I think, I’d love to,”

We fall into a comfortable silence, his hand still on top of mine. 

“Did you consider taking Victor up on his offer?” he asks suddenly. 

“I don’t know… I’m not ready on giving up on my own place yet.”

“You wouldn’t give up on it, you’ll just have the other place, it’s yours he wants you to have it, right?” 

“Yeah… but…” 

“I know, it isn’t technically something you made and I know how you feel about charity from your family, but… don’t you see he’s giving you this place since you’ve really impressed him with how you handled your first independent venture? He’s proud of you, this is his way of showing it.”

I look at him as he stops talking, he’s really thought this through, more so than I ever did. I only saw it as my family getting something for me, just for the sheer fact that they could, or well my Uncle Victor. I see it as his way of getting me into the family business, I still see it as that frankly, though, it might not hurt to hear him out properly, to look through the papers properly. 

“I suppose…” 

“Also, you could make sure it’s all yours, have him sign it over, or have him on as a silent partner,” he shrugs, “More trustworthy than a DiMera, in the grand scheme of things.” 

“I’ll talk to Uncle Vic,” I say with a smile, “I’ll hear him out, then think about it.”

He nods with a small smile on his lips.

We fall into a comfortable silence, just sitting next to each other, it feels great to just have him next to me again, this is where he belongs, well next to me, not in Marlena’s home, he shouldn’t stay here at all, though small steps, he’ll come home soon, I’m sure of that. 

“Today was nice,” he says quietly after a while, “I mean, we’ve not done family stuff in ages.” 

“Yeah, I had fun and Ari really seemed to love it.”

“She loves you, she misses you, it really showed today.” 

I nod along to what he is saying, “I’m glad she had a good time, I think it’s important to put our issues on the backburner whenever we’re with her, she shouldn’t witness us fighting…” he goes to say something, though I don’t let him as I continue talking, “Hopefully though, when she’s older, all of this mess will be behind us, a blip in an otherwise happy marriage.” 

“We just have to talk things through moving forward, always staying honest with each other, that’s the only way we can get past this.”

“You’re right, we will work on that, on all of our issues, okay, everything, I promise you that.”

“I know, we’ll get there in time.”

\--

**Sonny**

Okay, so Will is back home. Nothing’s changed as such, he just couldn’t stay at Marlena’s for a moment longer after the events tonight. 

We’d spent the entire day, more or less, together with Ari. We went to the zoo. Then we were just sitting there at Marlena’s, talking about everything and nothing, when John got home, with Paul in tow. 

Will just froze up, got up and left the room, as Marlena came out from the kitchen, dropping the tray with the sandwiches. It kinda went full blown soap opera as they started arguing over him bringing the, and I quote _“son of that whore”_ into her home. Paul just stood there staring at her, then defended his mother’s honor, which just had Marlena slap him, so he quite literally stumbled backwards. 

I left the room after that, going to find Will, who was in with Ari, just sitting next to her crib, watching her. He was quiet, contemplative. I’d placed my hand on his shoulder which had him relax slightly, though he didn’t say anything for a long time as we could hear the argument outside escalate. 

“I want to go home,” he then said quietly, “I don’t want to stay here anymore.” 

“Get the most important things then, I’ll pack up Ari’s stuff.” I’d responded with, if he wanted to go home, he was going to go home with me. 

“But… We’re not fixed yet,” he told me in a small voice.

“You’re right we’re not, though I’d rather you were at home, we have two rooms, we will do everything as we agreed, just through different living arrangements.” 

“I…” we both winced as we heard glass shattering, which just made him nod, “Okay, I’ll just get my work stuff and some clothes,” he left the room to do that, while I got Ari’s stuff packed rather quickly. I carefully got her out of the crib, wrapping her up in her blanket, holding her close to me. 

“Hey Will,“ I called out for him, “could you get the bag with her things, I’ll carry her, okay?”

“Yeah,” he agreed and that was it really. We left. I don’t think Marlena or John noticed, Paul was not there when we left. 

Will more or less crashed as soon as we got home. I feel too energized though, so I think I’ll look at his letter now.


	7. Will's written rambling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sonny reads the tangled mess that is Will's thoughts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to post, I've just not felt inspired to write. I don't watch the show any more, so i'm just making things up half the time.  
> I tried to go inside Will's manic mind with this letter, don't know if I succeeded as such, though hopefully it makes some sort of sense, I think it does for Sonny.

__

My dearest Sonny, 

I promise you, everything you ask for, I promise you I’ll do my utmost to make happen. 

I need you to promise me something too. Don’t blame yourself for what happened, we might have had issues, but i’m the one who made the biggest mistake. I can go as far as saying our lack of communication was a contributing factor to everything that’s gone wrong with us, but the cheating, that’s all on me. 

I know right from wrong, I know sleeping with Paul was really stupid, that’s on me, always on me, okay?  
Everything else, that’s on us together, it takes two people to make a marriage work and somehow we just stopped working on ours, me going away, focusing on my career, that was the root of it all, okay, that’s on me. 

I forgive you. I forgive you. I forgive you. 

Your letter somehow makes it sound as though all our problems are due to you, they’re not, I want you to stop thinking that way. 

I’ve thought long about this, I don’t know how to function without you. I think even if we can’t get past our problems, even if we break apart for good, I’d never be able to move on. How can I love someone else, when you’re my soulmate? I truly believe that. Our paths crossed at the right time for both of us, you, made… make me strong, you pick me up when I’m down, you are everything to me and…

Lately, ever since you found out and everything after that, I’ve felt so lost, so desperate to get back to where we were. I’ve gone through conversations, pictures, memories, everything to just get a fiber of what we had back, just so that I could get through another day of your silent treatment. Of trying so hard to gain your forgiveness which never came, of battling the voices in my head telling me I’m a failure, the voices that… you know about my insecurity, the feeling of not being good enough. Usually when it flares up, we’d talk and you’d kiss me, hug me, whisper loving words in my ear and I’d feel better, push it down, pick myself up. 

It’s been a regular struggle these months, I’ve had to stay strong for Ari, she’s kept me going, I had to stay strong for her, while breaking apart on the inside in my desperation over screwing up the best thing we’ll ever have in our lives.

I know you’ve been waiting for a reply to your letter, it’s just not been easy to sit down and write it, I’ve debated back and forth with what to put in it, what to say, what… I’ve just not felt secure enough to write the honest truth, call it a flare of my self doubt yet again, I’ve just not been strong enough to put my feelings down on paper, as it’d make them real, you know? 

I guess the main point is, I love you so much, I want our marriage to heal, I want us to go back to how we were. I know the trust has been broken and a lot of work is ahead of us to even get remotely close to how we once were, but I’m in this for the long haul, I’m fighting again now that I see you want to fight for this too. 

I know I hurt you, I know I messed up, but sometimes lately it just felt like, you used your knowledge of my issues to hurt me even more, you know what it does to me when you of all people ignore me, justified as you are to do just that, but still it felt like a deliberate way of getting back at me. I think you sleeping with Paul would’ve hurt less if I’m completely honest. At least then we’d be somehow even, though it’d be worse if you slept with him, as you at one point in time, maybe even still now, loved him like I love you. 

I don’t know Sonny, if I can do this if your heart isn’t completely mine, I need it to beat just for me, like mine only ever beats for you. Is your heart mine? 

Remember that night, when dad interrupted us and you threw me out of the apartment when I was an idiot? After we found our way again, you said you’d tell me about your past relationships and I declined. Why didn’t you tell me you’d asked someone else to marry you? Why did you make me feel so special, for it to be so soiled now? 

I want to know everything, every name, every place you went with them, experiences, everything Sonny. 

**Did you ask others to marry you?**

You know everything about me, all my secrets. I, I’ve come to realize, know very little about you, that’s not good, is it? We’ve always said, no secrets, yet we carry on having secrets, that has to stop, it very seriously has to stop. I want complete honesty. 

I know the irony of me saying that, but there you go. I have to have complete honesty Sonny. 

I trust you, when you say you want to work things out, I just have to say that I’m not comfortable with Paul being around town, around you, regardless of what you say about talking to him, stopping seeing him and whatever else. He’s my mistake, he’s your past lover, I’m not sure I’m strong enough to be around him in this town.

Ari will always see us both as her parents, we’ll do our best to give her a normal upbringing regardless of what happens with us. I’m not having her grow up to be as screwed up as I am, no chance. She’ll see us as a united front, always. Though if we aren’t together and you have some other partner, he has no say in her upbringing, absolutely no say. I have to say that, you have to know that. 

I’m far from okay Sonny, I’m a mess, I’m sure this letter showcases that, I’m literally all over the place currently. The key, it made me happy, it made me so happy to have my key again, it gave me hope, then my insecurity crept in, I’m not sure about a lot of things, though I know I love you, we both love you so much. 

I’m fighting myself these days, so I’m sorry if I’ve made you wait a long while before you get this letter, it’s just… yeah it’s just that hard for me. I’m sorry you’ve not seen Ari for a long time now too, she misses you like crazy, keeps asking for her Papa and wants to go home. How do I tell her that home doesn’t exist anymore? That I broke our home? I… I… d…

I’ll be strong enough soon to come for a visit with Ari, I don’t know if you’ll get the letter before I come for a visit, if you do, I’m sorry you’ve not seen Ari for this long, though you know I’ll never keep her from you, you know where we are. 

I’m gonna go sleep now. 

I love you Sonny, so much. 

Your Will.


	8. Another conversation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They talk some more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, yeah I sort of checked out on posting the ending of this, so it'll all be up today.   
> I finished this before the entire second affair was revealed and didn't feel like editing just to add that into this so, yeah he only slept once, with Paul, that's it, in this story anyways.

[b]Will[/b]

Waking up, I instantly feel rested, I’ve actually slept. I’ve not slept in weeks, months even. Ever since this entire mess happened, I’ve just felt so guilty. I’ve been so fixated on trying to fix things that I, I guess stressed myself out. 

I look over as Ari whimpers in her sleep, she’s clutching Snuffy and I smile slightly, he really carried me through some dark times in my youth, hopefully he will be a happy childhood memory toy for Ari though. 

I notice the light from the living room is on and looking at the clock I see it’s way past what is usually Sonny’s bedtime, especially considering he works most morning shifts these days, he told me while we were at the zoo. I can’t believe he talked me into going to the zoo and near the monkeys too. Though, Ari seemed to have loved it that’s all that matters in the end. 

He’d seemed different though, more like the old Sonny, the one who just loved me, the one that I’ve missed so much. I don’t know what that means, I’ve gotten so used to the Sonny that’s so angry with me, that I’m just not sure what to make of all of this. 

Sighing I get out of bed, check on Ari real quick, pressing a soft kiss to her head, “I love you, my little angel.” I stand there for a moment just watching her, remembering how small she was not too long ago. She’s growing up way too fast, next thing I’ll know she’ll be heading off for college. I wonder if Sonny will be there, next to me, while I wave goodbye to her as she drives off into the distance. 

I sure hope so. 

Shaking my head I open the door quietly, freezing when I see Sonny sitting there, reading something, his back is to me but I can tell he’s upset. I stand there awkwardly not knowing what to do, which scares me, since I’ve always known what to do around him. He doesn’t notice me though, so I contemplate just returning to my room, but as a muffled sob escapes him, I find myself moving towards him, dropping down behind him, carefully hugging him, wary of him not wanting that. 

“Hey shhhh, whatever it is I’m right here, okay, please don’t cry, I don’t like it when you cry.” I whisper softly as he turns in my embrace, to fully hug me. 

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry… I never… I promise… I never…” he keeps saying and I furrow my brows as I hold him tightly, letting him cry on me, I run my hand up and down his back, before settling it in his hair. 

“Sonny, what…” my eyes fall onto the paper he was holding before, my letter, I gulp as he shudders letting out another sob. “Hey, it’s okay… I promise I’m feeling much better now than I did when I wrote that, okay don’t get upset, please.” I gently say into his ear, pressing a very soft kiss to his cheek, not wanting to overstep any boundary in our very fragile, just getting back on track, maybe, marriage. 

I try to pull back slightly, which only has him hold me tighter to him as he shakes his head. 

“Okay, okay I’ll stop…” I run my hand up and down his back again, “I’m right here, I’m okay, I’m not going anywhere anymore, okay.” I wait for him to calm down as I continue holding him, feeling him calm down, he sniffs loudly, slightly releasing his hold on me, though still holding me close to him. 

Looking into his eyes, I see so many conflicting emotions, I see his pain over what I did, I see his pain over what I wrote, I see his relief that I’m here, I see the sadness that’s been there for so long that I’m relatively certain I helped put there. 

“I’m sorry,” I whisper, making him frown, “I’m sorry I’ve made you so sad.” His eyes widen at that as he starts to shake his head. 

“No, no, you don’t have to apologize, I’m sorry, I’m so incredibly sorry that I…” he reaches for the letter, “I… I’ve been so angry that I didn’t notice, I know you so much that I should’ve noticed… I just…” he sighs, “I’m…” 

“We’re okay now, I’m okay now… I was just… I let it get control over me for a bit while I was feeling really low.” I shrug helplessly, I don’t like thinking about that, I don’t like feeling weak in front of him. 

“I’m still sorry, I just…” he trails off, “I’ve just tried to not get angry with you, then you’d do something manic and I would just…” 

“I know, I’ve been desperate, but I just…” I grip his hand, playing with his ring, “It’s been, difficult watching you with him, while I… I got punished by everyone… I know I’m to blame, but, it hurt to watch you more or less fawn over him… it’s like he was there too, why not get angry with him too?” shaking my head I carry on, “I get that he didn’t know who I was, but still, how could you even bare being near him, when you shunned me?” 

“Will…” he starts, “I… until you left… I really didn’t realize I was doing that… I think maybe since he was a familiar face, someone who knew me in a way only a partner could, it was easier to just be with him, talk to him…” he pauses, “It just felt like I couldn’t trust you, I couldn’t get through to you, over your obsession with him, so I just…” sighing he squeezes my hand. “When you’re upset, you react in a certain way, right?” I nod, “When I get upset, I either get really angry, reacting in a way that hurts you or I shut down completely again hurting you in the process. I guess this time it was a combination of both things.”

“It felt like you hated me,” I whisper, finally saying what I’ve thought for so long now. 

“Never I could never hate you, Will. It just hurt so much that you’d throw away everything we fought so hard for.” I look away, feeling utterly ashamed, “Hey,” he gently makes me look at him again, “I’m sorry I made you feel like I did, I’m sorry I ignored you so that you felt like I hated you, I never did, I never will. You are everything to me. I never deliberately did anything to hurt you, I would never use what I know about you to hurt you with. I’m truly sorry if I ever made you feel that I did though.”

“S’okay,” I murmur quietly, “I know logically that you’d never do that, you’re not hateful… just when I let that take control…” I shrug helplessly. 

“We’ll have to do something about that from now on, no more letting your inner voice gain control over you, we might talk to Marlena about that, okay?” 

“I’m not crazy,” I say as I try to get up, which only has him hold me tighter, pulling me down again. 

“I’m not saying you are, maybe she can explain what that is, what happens when you experience that. I know you’re not crazy, I know this is just your insecurities taking full control, maybe Marlena can give you, us, some tools we can use to combat them, when they flare up… okay?”

I warily look into his eyes, seeing the sincerity in them, seeing how he really is concerned about my well-being, I can see him pleading with me, which has me nodding slowly. 

“Also, regarding this bit about former boyfriends,” he starts making me close my eyes, “I’ll tell you everything you want to know, though first let me just say, I’ve only asked two people to marry me, the first one, if I think about it now, was out of desperation, trying to make him chose me over his sports career.” I shrug as he talks, “Perhaps I did love him then, though I’m sure it’d not have worked out in the long run.” He pauses as he makes me look at him again, “You, I asked you cause I loved you with every fiber of my being, I still do. I waited for you after you said no the first time, I knew deep down you’d be the person I’d settle down with for the rest of my life.” He smirks slightly, “I didn’t really foresee this many problems in the first year of our marriage though, but you live and you learn, I guess.” 

“You don’t have to…” I start, “I mean, I was just… I wasn’t in a good place when I wrote…”

“I know, I just need you to understand this, it was you, it was always you, you are my choice, you always will be my choice. I’m head over heels in love with you, despite my hurt, my anger, my disappointment in what happened, despite it all, it doesn’t change my feelings for you. You are it for me. If I have to tell you every single day from now on until one of us dies, I will.” 

“I’ll tell you too, every single day.” I concur quietly. 

“That’d be nice,” he smiles, “I’ll tell you about former boyfriends in the morning or in a letter, how about that? It’s really late, we should sleep.”

“In person, I want to know that in person, if that’s okay.” 

“Perfectly fine.” I nod as he smiles. 

“Okay… good night then.” I get up slowly, yelping when I’m yanked down again. 

“Ehm… I was thinking…” he starts, nervously, “How’d you feel… would you…” he clears his throat, “What.. what I’m trying to…” 

“Hey, breathe, relax,” 

“Ehm… thanks,” he smiles, “I’m… I shouldn’t be nervous, you’re my husband, I should be able to ask this…” he shakes his head as I look at him expectantly. “I… would you want to share our bed with me again?” he says quietly, so quiet that I’m not sure I heard him right. 

“What?” 

“I… sleep, would you consider sleeping in the same bed as me?” he repeats. 

“I… but…”

“I… I can’t sleep when you’re not there,” he shrugs helplessly, “I’ve not had a proper nights sleep in months…. I miss you, I miss holding you, I miss cuddling up with you… I just… I miss you Will.” 

“Are you sure?” I need him to be sure, there’s nothing in this world that I’d want to do more than to just sleep next to him again.

“Yeah… I just…” he sighs, “I miss you so much.” 

“I miss you too,” I admit to him, “Won’t this… I don’t know, ruin this entire, talking things through way of things, we’re trying to do?”

“No, this’ll help us, I’m sure of it. We both need each other to stay strong to… to find our way back to where we were, this… this is a good step.”

“Pajamas?”

“For now yes, in due time though we should go back to how we used to…” he looks at me for a moment, “Let us think of it as if we’re dating again, remember how we were then when we spent the night together? We start with that, the closer we get the better, till we’re at where we were before everything…” 

“Okay,” I nod, “okay.”

“Good, now, c’mon…” he gets up, holding out his hand for me, “Let us check on our girl, get the monitor and then go to bed.”

I let him lead me to Ari’s room, where we kiss her face softly, he grabs the monitor then guides us to our room, where he grabs his pajamas and changes in the bathroom, while I’m already in my sleep gear from earlier. I just stand there awkwardly until he reemerges from the bathroom, smiles at me, kisses my cheek then gets into bed, holding the covers for me, as I join him. 

It’s weird, wonderful, but weird at the same time, to share a bed with him again. He shifts around for a while, then snuggles close to me, his arm draping over my stomach, his head resting next to my shoulder. 

“G’night,” he sighs. 

“G’night,” 

“I love you.”

“Love you too,” he squeezes my midsection as I tell him that, it isn’t long after that till his breathing evens out, I shuffle slightly, so I am facing him, kiss his head softly, before closing my eyes, allowing myself to finally breathe, finally believe that we might just come out of this whole. 

\--

[b]Will[/b]

“C’mon baby girl,” I have her toddle in front of me as I hold the tray with breakfast, while she holds the little plastic flower I found. 

“Papa flower,” she says as I open the door. 

“That’s right, a flower for papa from his little angel.” I smile as she runs towards the bed, where Sonny is still out cold. I place the tray on my side of the bed, pick up Ari and place her next to Sonny, as I sit down. “Okay Ari, now.” I tell her as she squeals while crawling onto Sonny, sort of slapping him in the face with the flower.

“Wh..wha?” he mutters sleepily as he opens his eyes, smiling almost instantly as his eyes land on Ari. 

“Papa play…” she says excitedly, as she claps her hands, dropping the flower as he wraps his arms around her, holding her close. 

“First papa should have some breakfast, then he might be able to play,” I look at them, smiling as my eyes lock with his for a short moment. 

“Breakfast?” 

I nod towards the tray, as he gets into a seated position, leaning up against the headboard. 

“I called T, he said you should stay home and be with us,” I look at him, “I figured you needed some sleep, you’ve looked exhausted ever since you…” I trail off with a sad smile, “Hope that’s okay with you.”

“Hey,” he grips my hand, “It’s okay, don’t start with the blaming yourself thing again, we both have to stop that. We’ll talk, here, with a counselor, through letters, whatever, just no more blaming ourselves. We learn from what went wrong so that it never happens again, okay?” 

“’kay” Ari claps as she reaches for her cup of milk. 

“Ari agrees, so do I, what about you, Will?” he looks at me as I look from Ari to him. This is my family, this is what I need to focus on from now on and always. 

“Okay, no more blaming myself or you or anyone. We start over, but we still get help for the stuff that led us to where we are now.” 

“Sounds like a great plan,” he smirks. 

“Don’t get cocky,” I warn with a smile. 

“I’d never. I’m always right.” 

“Know-it-all” 

“Flow’r for papa,” Ari smacks Sonny in the face with the plastic flower, making me bust out laughing.


	9. A small argument & plans for the future?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Paul calls Sonny. Will sees. Small argument, perhaps and afterwards plans for the future.

[b]Will[/b]

I smile at Ari, as she plays with her toys, while waiting for Sonny to get out of the shower. We ended up deciding to just stay home today, have another family day. 

“Hey Will,” I look towards the door as he emerges, “Did you call Marlena?” I furrow my brow, then shake my head. “You want me to call for you?” I shrug, it’s not like she’d not have figured it out, why we left that is.

“I suppose, though maybe her and John are still arguing, so…” I shrug once more.

“You really think they’d still…”

“Where’d you think my mom got her… strength of character from?” I smirk making him chuckle. 

“Right, well… leave it for a day or so, see if she’ll get in touch?”

“Probably the best thing,” I agree.

“D’you wanna go shower, while we play?” he wonders, making me shake my head. 

“I showered already, woke up early, before Ari so…” 

“Oh… I didn’t even…”

“I slept last night remember, you’ve not slept in ages, from what you told me.” 

“Yeah, it’s…” he shrugs, “After the attack, after…” he looks away, making me gulp at the pain I saw flashing all over his face for the briefest of moments. 

“Yeah… I…” shaking my head, “Same here…” he sits down, smiling at Ari as she tosses one of her dolls towards the wall. 

“It’s alright Will,” he smiles as he nudges my shoulder. “Don’t feel guilty, don’t feel upset, don’t let those thoughts take control.” 

“But…” 

“I know, it was and to an extent still is a mess…” gripping my hand, he looks into my eyes, “We’ll get through this. We both have learned from this, we’ll both grow from this… I don’t want to lose you. I don’t think you understand how deep my love for you is.” 

“Why…” I clear my throat, “Why do you love me?” I ask in a small voice. He can do so much better, he deserves so much better than someone with as many issues as I have.

“Because you are flawed,” I frown as I look at him, “I love all of you Will, I love every single imperfection, every single scar, every single little flaw that you have. That’s what makes you, you, that’s what makes you the perfect friend, partner, lover, husband, father.” I shake my head, “It does. You’ve been through so much, so incredibly much in your life, and you’re still standing strong, you’re still fighting, you’re still here.” He gives my hand a squeeze as he pulls me towards him, “You’ve literally had a life out of a really crappy soap and still, you’re here, you have the most awesome little girl, you are a father, you are an amazing writer, you are the most dedicated and loyal friend ever and most importantly you love me, you complete me, you came into my life when I was still… reeling from a bad breakup and you made me fall in love with you. Will I fell so hard and I was still floating, I was still so in love…” 

I look up as he sniffles and clears his throat, seeing the emotion all over his face. 

“I hit the ground, hard, when I found out… I’ve literally been in the worst most darkest corners of my mind ever since I found out, and maybe I dealt with it wrong, maybe I should’ve sat down with you, maybe we should’ve talked and…” shrugging he looks at me, “I just… You really hurt me Will, I never thought you would do that to me. Especially after all you went through as a child, I really can’t get it through my head how you could… I just know that while I do forgive you, I truly do, okay?” I nod, waiting for the other shoe to drop. “I might make some comments once in a while, or write some things in the letters or something… As much as I know I don’t want to, I know I’ll end up lashing out, even if I know you are who I want to spend the rest of my life with.”

“So you’re going to hold this over my head?” I whisper as I let go of his hand. 

“No… no… I’m not going to bring it up or anything like that… I guess I just… I might be angry for a little bit, I just need time to properly let go up in my mind, like subconsciously… I know I won’t bring things up intentionally, but…” 

“But it might slip out if you get frustrated with me?” 

“No… I… I don’t know Will… I just know that while I forgive you, love you, adore you and want to get things back on track, I can’t just cut my feelings off… maybe with counselling and all that, I’ll get tools to let go properly, you know, but until then… just know if I make some snide remark, it’s nothing on you or us from after we started talking again, it’s only aimed at the…” 

I nod, understanding what he’s saying, “I suppose that’s okay… Just promise me that afterwards you’ll hug me or something and reassure me so I don’t freak out and get in my head too much.”

“I promise. I love you Will, I really do love you, more than I have words to say.”

\--

“Sonny, your phone,” I sigh as it buzzes again and again. 

“Could you get it, we have a little emergency over here,” he chuckles as he sticks his head out of Ari’s room. 

“Okay,” I shrug as I place my laptop on the sofa, and get his phone from the table near the door. Nearly dropping it as I see who’s calling and messaging. “Sonny, you get it. I’ll take care of Ari.” I call as I head for her room, giving it to him. 

“What, why?” 

“Paul.” I smile at Ari, “Ready for a clean diaper?” 

“I don’t…” I look at Sonny. 

“I think you should talk to him, I mean you had it planned for yesterday so just…” I shrug, “It’s up to you what you do, but I believe you were truthful in what you wrote and said… so please Sonny… I can’t do this if he’s still in the picture somehow, I’m not strong enough.” 

“Will,” he grips my hand, “I’m not backtracking, I will talk to him, I just feel like it should be a face to face conversation.”

“Why?” 

“If I’ve given him the impression that he has a chance, I’d think the most polite thing…”

“I could care less about the polite thing in regards to him.” I spit out, just as the phone goes off again, “Why is it his feelings matter, why does he come before your family?” 

“What?”

“You heard me… I get you’re upset with me, or were or whatever… but even then, you’d pick him over me, us, you’d go to him as soon as he’d call and I’d just sit here and encourage you to do so cause at least then you wouldn’t yell at me, or ignore me… why does he get such a free pass when he slept with me too, it wasn’t just me. I might be the married one, but it’s sick, literally sick that you’re running around after the man who your husband cheated on you with.” I look down at Ari as she whimpers, “Shit.” Fuck I can’t believe I just did that, in front of her. “Just go,” I look at him, “I can’t and shouldn’t do this in front of Ari.” I smile at her, “Sorry baby, you ready to get a clean diaper?” 

“Will…” he starts as his phone goes off again. 

“Just go, don’t answer, I don’t care.” I say quietly as I block him out and focus all my attention on my daughter. 

\--

[b]Sonny[/b]

Damn it, why do I feel like I just ruined all that we’ve spent the past week or so, on rebuilding? I literally feel dismissed, by my own husband. For months I ignored him and now he just dismissed me. 

Groaning as my phone goes off and overwhelmed by Will’s outburst I just snarl as I accept the call. 

“What the fuck do you want?”

“Wh.. Sonny?”

“What.Do.You.Want.” I say through gritted teeth, “It better be good too, for you to practically spam my phone with messages and calls.” 

“I… I just wanted…”

“What damn it, get on with it.” 

“Is this a bad time?” 

“Paul, what do you want, hurry it up.” 

“You wanted to talk to me about something…” he says as I groan, loudly. “I can…” 

“Okay, first things first… one message, one phone-call is enough, then you wait till I get back to you, if I get back to you.” 

“I… what?” 

“You heard me.” I spot Snuffy on Ari’s playmat, which just has me smile tenderly. “Secondly, what I wanted to talk to you about is the fact that I’m deeply committed to my husband and our little girl, and since you slept with my husband I don’t ever want to see you again.” 

“What… Sonny you can’t.”

“I’m not finished,” I snap, “What we had, ended that day when you picked your career over me. The fact that you slept with my husband should have just solidified it even more for me, but for some reason I took out all my anger on him, while I let you off…” I shake my head what the fuck was I thinking, “He’s my priority, he’s my life, he is the one that my heart beats for, has beaten for, for many years. He’s been willing to make some incredible sacrifices to keep me out of harms way, he made a horrific mistake by sleeping with you, but knowing you Paul, I’m certain you’re not without any blame in getting him to sleep with you.” 

“I’m not the married one, I didn’t know he was married.” He defends himself. 

“That’s true, but once I found out, I should’ve been upset with you too, not just him. I’m realizing now that me spending time with you, while ignoring him, was giving you false hope of us getting back together. That would never have happened, ever. I’m too committed to my marriage to ever stray, I love him too much to abandon him. He put me back together when you broke me, he has my heart and even if it’s bruised and battered right now, I have the utmost faith in him that he will put it back together again, he’ll nurse it back to full strength again and we will move past this bump in our marriage, we will come out of this stronger than we ever have been before.”

“I…”

“If you have any respect for me, you will back off, I don’t want to see you ever again Paul, good bye.” 

I end the conversation, sighing as I look at Snuffy, “I wish you could make me feel better, like you used to do with Will and how you do with Ari now.” 

“He can’t,” I look at Will who’s standing in the doorway, “She’s out cold,” I nod as I continue to look at him. “Did you mean that?” 

“Every single word.” He nods, “I’m sorry for making you doubt that I’d do what I said I would. I just felt like I owed him a face to face conversation, you know?”

“I’m sorry for before,” he sighs, “I just I hear what you’ve said to me these past days and in your letters and… but then it felt like you were backtracking and I can’t deal with that, I can’t feel like I only have you on borrowed time.”

“You have me full time, you and Ari are it for me, I’m not letting anyone come in-between us ever again.”

“Your mother, your uncle Vic, your father…” he trails off, “It’s like they all forgot all their faults and see me as the devil or something. I slept with another man, once. Your mother is having an affair with my father, and still has time to slap me and judge me… Let’s not even start on Victor and his faults… Justin, well…” he shrugs. 

“Wait, when did mom slap you?”

“When she found out, the day you left.” 

“She didn’t tell me she slapped you.” I hold out my hand for him, yanking him down on my lap when he comes over. “I’m sorry for that.” 

“Not your fault Sonny,” 

“Still am sorry.” I give his hand a squeeze, as I look up at him, “Look, I’m not delusional enough to say all our problems have magically disappeared, I know we have a long way to go, but I am here, I am committed to this, I will fight for this marriage, I want you and I want Ari, that’s it. We can even move away from Salem if you want, I don’t give a damn.”

“What about the clubs?” 

“Silent partners, or, sell my share to Uncle Vic, have him and Chad battle it out, while we start over somewhere else.” 

“Not too far away though, Gabi still has to see Ari.” He mumbles as he rests his head on my shoulder. “I’m quitting my job,” 

“What?”

“It’s too much hassle right now, they want me to do a piece on that hick grandma Kate is dating and I just don’t feel like it. I just want to spend time with Ari, maybe do my blog again, write a book or something like that. You know.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive, I don’t want to work right now anyways, I need time with my family and just that.”

“Let us get out of this town then.” 

“Huh?”

“I’m serious Will, let us just go, let us just pack up, sell up and just go away from here, maybe Chicago or something like that, it’s still close enough to here and to Gabi.” 

“Shouldn’t we… you know do the counseling and the likes?” 

“We will, I’m sure Marlena knows good people all over the country.” 

He looks at me, really looks at me before responding. “Okay, sure.” 

I grin and grip my phone, calling uncle Victor. 

“Hey uncle Vic, I want to sell my share of TBD to you, you interested?” 

“What do you mean?” 

“I want out of the club and I figured you might be interested in sticking it to Chad and Stefano.” I shrug as I look at Will. 

“I already have a club.”

“True, but with TBD you’d have a 50/50 share with a DiMera, where you can do what you want to piss him off. Besides loyal staff too.”

“How much?” 

“Two million.“ 

“You what?”

“You heard me Uncle Vic.”

“I’ll get Justin to draw up the papers.” 

“Great, thanks, speak to you soon.”

I end the call and grin at Will. 

“Two million? Is it even worth that now?”

“That’s nothing for the opportunity to stick it to a DiMera.” 

“Is that enough for us to start over with?” 

“Yeah of course, I’ll have it invested in various stock, make profit, we’ll do alright.” I ponder for a moment, “Your grandma and your dad could loan us money too and your mom, she’s got it made over there in LA, so if we ever need anything, we have cash from them.”

“What about the new club though?” 

“Oh shit,” I grab my phone again, calling uncle Vic again. 

“Yes Sonny?”

“The other club, the one you bought for me.”

“What about it?”

“Does the offer still stand?”

“Of you running it?”

“Of me owning it?” 

“Yes”

“Okay, then I want it.” I look over at Will, smiling slightly.

“Alright, I’ll have Justin draw up some more papers.” He goes silent for a moment, “Was there anything else?”

“Yes, I want the papers to state that Will is my silent partner.”

“What?” 

“You heard me, we have a little girl to bring up and with this club we’ll have the money to ensure she will want for nothing for the rest of her life.”

“Sonny is that…”

“It’s my club, you made a point of telling me that was the reason you bought it. So this is what I want, or are you backtracking on your offer?”

He sighs, “no, it’s yours. I’ll have Justin draw it up the way you want it.” 

“Great, thank you, bye.”

I grip Will’s hand with a smile as I look into his eyes. 

“It’s ours,” my smile falters when he frowns. “What’s wrong?”

“You just said you wanted to leave Salem… but then you…” He shakes his head. 

“Oh we’re leaving, we’ll just leave T. or Ben in charge as the manager and have them run the place. I have faith in them.”

“Ehm so…”

“They do the work, we get the profit, maybe I’ll open up another coffee shop somewhere and take it from there you know, just have the club as our earmarked Ari trust fund or something like that.”

“Oh… okay.” He nods. I smile as I cup his face and place a soft and very gentle kiss on his lips, which has him still as he sits on my lap. 

“Was that okay?” I wonder as I look at him.

“I’ve missed you,” he whispers to me. 

“I’m here now.” He leans in and kisses me again.


	10. The future and the end

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's two months later. Life moves on, people grow, etc etc.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to make something clear my story is built around Will as portrayed by Guy Wilson, who in my eyes is the best Will they've had on the show.
> 
> Also do forgive me for my American English fused with whatever random British English words and phrases that might have popped up, I opted to not edit most of the chapters so that's why. 
> 
> Thanks to those of you who've bothered enough to read this from start till end. Maybe the ending is a bit too mushy, but what the hell, not like it'll happen on the show, the way things have been going.

[b]Two months later[/b]

[b]Will[/b]

“Hey Will,” I look up as Sonny comes into the office, “Did you get a message from T. about the salaries this month?”

I check my phone and show Sonny the message, which he nods at, before calling up T. 

Smiling I watch how he first scolds, then jokes, then mocks T. it’s funny but ever since that night where he talked to Paul, ever since we decided to leave Salem, it’s all sort of started to get back on track. 

We go to counselling twice a week, we still write letters, though they moved past the problem and mostly now are silly love letters, or in one particular case, a shopping list, which he thought was funny. I didn’t really get the humor in that. 

He sort of sprung the house on me one day, not too long after that night. Just came in from work, said he’d bought a house… or rather Victor had bought us the house, his way of making amends over his way of treating me. Also I think he was pleased that he had some leverage over a DiMera cause he seemingly had transferred well over the asking price for Sonny’s share of TBD, so much in fact that we already have Ari’s college fees covered and she’s only 2 years old. 

“Okay knucklehead, we’ll see you next week and remember if there are any problems, ask Uncle Victor for help, he has his people around and promised me he’d keep an eye out, now that we’ve left.” 

I smile as Sonny ends the call, waiting for the kiss he always places on my cheek after a conversation with T. “So how’s the club doing, has he run it into the ground yet?” I chuckle after the kiss, which results in him flicking me on the ear.

“Nah, last numbers he sent over, seems it’s all doing good, business picking up now that uncle Vic decided on some changes for TBD.”

“Did you get to look over the location for the new coffee place?” I wonder as we’ve talked about getting a new coffee shop started up, with most of the old common grounds/TBD suppliers as suppliers for this place. 

“Hmm? Oh yeah… it does look good… but after the last expansion attempt, I’m not taking any risks, I’ll have proper people look into everything before even placing a bid.”

“Looks good though, right?” He nods with a smile, as he looks at my laptop, then at me. 

“Did you get some writing done today?” 

“Yeah… the… eh Paul stuff…” I shrug as I look at him warily. Despite him telling me he forgave me, repeatedly and even during one of our counselling sessions I still sometimes feel guilty and he knows it. 

“It’s okay to say his name,” he smiles, “It’ll always be a part of our story, what happened, I mean, so we might as well just get over any awkwardness and just say things as they are.” 

“I know, it’s just…” I trail off, shrugging. 

“It’s weird sure, but we both promised to communicate better and to just say things, even if they hurt, we have to stick to that, not go back to how we used to do things. That was ultimately part of the reason for why the entire Paul thing happened.” I nod, knowing he’s right. 

“Okay well I’m writing that now, it’s easier to write the things that happened these months, I’ll write the earlier life things afterwards and finish up with writing about the best things best moments… Meeting you, having Ari, marrying you… renewing our vows.” I smile as I look at him.

“We’re just going to city hall,” he frowns at me but I simply shrug. 

“It’s still a happy memory for me and an important moment in our lives.” 

“Yeah, yeah it is.” 

“D’you think we could go on an actual honeymoon this time?” I wonder as I look at him “Not that last time wasn’t great just, It wasn’t a real thing, then everything with Nick happened and Gabi and so on and so forth… Just going somewhere with you, Ari and enjoying ourselves.” 

“Of course we can, anything you want, we can do it.” 

I smile as he kisses the top of my head, before scouring off into the kitchen to cook something or other, as I focus my attention on the screen in front of me, typing away on my first ever book. My life story, if mom has one, why can’t I? I’ve been through enough in my short life, than most other people will have to go through in theirs, maybe someone will read this at some point and decide to make a movie out of it. 

“See, here he is sweetheart.” I look over as Sonny brings over a sad looking Ari. 

“Hi baby, what’s wrong?” she reaches for me, instantly snuggling into me when I have her in my arms. 

“Daddy, bad dream…” she whimpers, as I press a soft kiss on top of her hair. 

“Oh, I’m sorry baby, but it was only a dream, I’m right here and so is Papa.” Sonny sits down next to us, gently rubbing her back. “We’ll always be here for you.” 

“D’you want some juice?” Sonny asks.

“Apl’” she says as her thumb goes in her mouth, a bad habit but one she only does when she’s had bad dreams, which luckily aren’t that often. 

“Apple it is,” Sonny smiles as he heads for the kitchen, returning with her sippy cup a moment later. 

“Are you excited to go see your mama tomorrow?” I ask as she takes the cup and drinks from it. 

“Which reminds me, I should pack the diaper-bag,” Sonny says as he goes off to do that, while Ari rests her head against my shoulder as she finishes her juice. 

“Your mama misses you so much you know, she’ll be so happy to spend some time with you tomorrow.”

Ari giggles at that, as she reaches for one of her toys, bopping me in the head with it. 

\--

[b]Sonny[/b]

Ari was fussing as we left the prison, today was one of the days where she really didn’t want to let go of her mother. Which was hard on all of us, Gabi had ended up kissing her, whispering a few words in Spanish to her, then handing her over to me before leaving the room. 

We’d visited her a lot after we moved from Salem, practically every other day. We opted to do so the first couple of weeks anyways, and then took Ari to the playground or the zoo or just for long walks on the other day, so that she also got acquainted with her new home town. Yes she’s two, but still she should know where she’s living. 

The first time we visited Gabi after we made up and made the decision to move, we told her everything that had happened between us, how we were back on track now and how we were going to move, but still would come with Ari as much as we could. 

She hadn’t been too thrilled of the prospect of us moving and taking Ari away from Rafe, but understood why we just wanted out of Salem, for our sake and for Ari’s too. Rafe would always be a part of Ari’s life, just he’d have to travel to see her and he’d be able to stay for a day or two, as the house we got is big enough. 

We’d gotten Gabi’s blessing then, it had actually worked out for the best, Gabi got to see Ari much more now, which was what mattered the most, at the same time Rafe had increased his visits too, so we still had that touch of Salem in our lives, despite having moved away from there. 

“You know, your uncle T. will be visiting us soon,” Will tells Ari in the backseat as I drive us home, “I bet you, he’ll bring you a present, maybe a doll?” I chuckle as Will sighs when Ari bops him in the head with her teddy bear. 

“It’s not funny,” he mutters as he looks at me through the rear-view mirror. 

“It’s a little bit funny, how she figured out a way to show she wants to be left alone.” I grin, “Isn’t that right baby girl?” she responds by bopping Will with her teddy again. “That’s right, good on you.” 

I see Will sulking, his lip jutting out adorably. “She better not turn out like my mother or her mother,” he says making me laugh, as I park the car inside our garage. 

“Oh she’ll be a perfect little angel… who’ll have us wrapped around her little finger.” I get out of the car, getting Ari out too, as Will brings in her diaper-bag. 

As soon as we’re inside, Ari wiggles out of my arms and waddles over to her toys. Will sighs behind me, making me smile tenderly, before wrapping my arms around him, pulling him closer, kissing his cheek. 

“I know we aren’t fixed yet,” he starts, “but, this feels right,” I look at him as he continues, “maybe we had to go through all of that to realize that what we had, was what mattered the most.” Shrugging he kisses my cheek, then goes to join Ari. 

I watch them for a moment processing the words that just left his mouth, he might just be right. Maybe everything that happened was meant to happen to show us that we shouldn’t take things for granted, that hard work is needed to make a marriage work, hard work and proper communication, which we’ve seriously lacked in the past. 

“You’re right,” I finally say as I join him and Ari, in building a tower with her blocks. “Everything was a test to show us that we have to work on keeping our marriage healthy. We took it and each other for granted and that almost destroyed us completely.” 

“Yeah it did.” 

“We just have to work hard, we have to communicate, we have to do whatever it takes to…”

“To make our marriage work, to keep our family healthy and happy,”

“Yes, all of that,”

“We will Sonny, we know what we stand to lose and that is a constant reminder that we should never take things for granted again.”

“We won’t, we just have to communicate, if something bothers you or me, we should say it, put it out in the open, or bring it up during counselling or in a letter.” I smile as I grip his hand. 

“Yeah, I’d like that,”

“It’s a deal then,”

“Papa, dada… look.” We both look at our daughter, smiling as she has both her boy dolls kiss each other. 

“Should we?” he wiggles his eyebrows at me, making me pull him by his shirt and press our lips together in a loving kiss, while our daughter claps her hands and squeals next to us.


End file.
